Winding up in Myanmar; golf at Pun Hlaing is a good way to do so

By Rahul Banerji

After a hyper-busy 13 days, it is time to wind down on Myanmar On The Run, and what better way than to spend it on a golf course that sits at the apex of the sport in this country.

By this time, we had navigated the streets, sounds and smells of Bagan, Mandalay and the largely British-built part of Yangon, the waterfront, the old Secretariat area, the Sule Pagoda and its surrounds.

Once the second-busiest port in the world less a than 100 years ago, Yangon is today a more sedate marine destination. The movement of vessels up and down the muddy Irrrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) River and the boom of their fog-horns is a constant in the background.

So off it was to the Pun Hlaing GC, Myanmar’s sole functioning championship standard course and a pretty picture it makes. A Gary Player-designed layout, the par-72 7,102-yard course opened in 2000 and has since built up a solid reputation.

Upscale locale

Set in the tony Pun Hlaing development that was very reminiscent of driving into the Nusa Dua area of Bali, the course sees heavy footfall and booking is advisable. “Last year we recorded 40,000 rounds of golf,” says Pun Hlaing GC Group Director of Golf, Stephen Chick.

“This is Myanmar’s top course. While most of our clients are members, it is also an exclusive property but we still clock up to a hundred rounds a day,” the former European Tour professional adds.

And with good reason.

Situated between the Pun and Hlaing rives (hence the name), the course has water almost along or part of every hole, barring a few on the front nine. Whether it is a stream flowing along the fairway, or a pond between tee and green, there is much to be careful about.

Having learnt some hard lessons on my previous two rounds on Myanmar courses, discretion proves to be a valuable ally. Keeping it straight and frequently consulting the scorecard which has an extremely helpful hole-by-hole diagram that shows the pitfalls ahead, I actually manage to bring in six pars on the even greens.

Talk about salvation after the trauma of Royal Minglardon and Shwe Mann Taung!

Winds of change

Now a country racing to catch up after half a century and more under generals determined to keep it aloof from the rest of the world, Yangon represents the focal point of a vast change in the country. Shifting the capital to Nay Pi Taw is only part the story but it has freed up the former capital to expand into a commercial hub.

Yet the more things change, the more they stay the same. The streets in the old city throw up a medley of offerings from roadside stalls that flog meals, snacks, sweets and savouries best tasted, and little bits of history crop up everywhere.

One bit of the past relevant to India is tracked down on our last evening. It is the final resting place of India’s last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. Tucked away in a quiet road not far from the imposing Shwedadon Pagoda, Myanmar’s largest and most holy, the poet-king now has a much-visited dargah.

It wasn’t that way till quite recently. Let Hafiz Kamaluddin, the shrine’s second imam, take up the story.

Hidden tomb

“After he died Bahadur Shah’s body was interred here but to remove all traces of the grave, the British sarkar piled up eight feet of soil over the site and leveled it completely,” says Hafiz, whose great-grandfather relocated on Yangon from the Abhiramapuram area of Madras (now Chennai).

“It was only in 1991 that we managed to locate the grave where he had been buried since 1864,” Hafiz, fluent in Arabic, Persian and Urdu adds. “Workers were digging for a drain when they came across a brick-lined tomb, which had inscriptions on that helped identify the body.

“We now have visitors all the time not just from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, but increasingly from all parts of the world.

“They come to pay respects to a sufi saint and great poet as well as an emperor.”

Back then on the trail for more experiences and sights, we end up in the Sule Pagoda area again, this time in the evening. It is a street market in its full pomp, fresh vegetables fruit, condiments, meat and fish all neatly laid out and marked by serious hagglingy  and bargaining.

Fishy stuff

For Bengalis, the fish stalls are a familiar sight. Piles of rohu, tengra, bhetki, prawns and crab are everywhere. But we are on the hunt for something a little more exotic, the Irrawaddy hilsa.

There are a few to be seen, but small. Unlike the Ganga or Padma hilsa, this variety is a flat silvery white, minus the pink that usually stripes the sides of the fish found in Indian and Bangladesh waters and we keep looking.

Up a little alley, we hit the jackpot. Four large pieces, all exorbitantly priced, all upwards of a kilo. Freshness, or a lack of proper preservation is a problem, and they are pretty rank already. No change in the price however. Non-negotiable, so there must be takers. This is after all a Bengali-speaking area.

Leaving the ilish behind, we are now on the track of our last destination, the giant, towering Shwedagn Pagoda, also called the Shwedagon Zedi Daw, the Great Dagin Pagoda.

It is vast! The dome is 326 feet high and the spire atop that rises to 368 feet. All around are smaller pagodas and temples and the impression is overpowering. As are the crowds.

Words and even photographs cannot do this golden immensity justice. See it for yourself. It’s for the best.

Also read: Shwe Mann Taung; piece of jade in a historic setting